To be frank, I am not well positioned to review the TV series Peyton Place. For Peyton Place has been a part of my upbringing. I was about ten years old, when the series started to be broad-casted in the Netherlands. Our family had owned a black-and-white TV for not more than a couple of years. I remember how the whole family looked in amazement at the unfolding events on the egg-shaped gray screen. The community of Peyton Place was the talk of the town in our little state. I still wonder what lasting impression it must have made on my blank soul. I do remember that I was deeply touched by the romance between Rodney and Allison. And how I wondered why she had not picked Norman. Forty-five years later, watching the DVDs is like meeting a very old friend. And still, the story (the episodes 1-31) had been almost completely wiped out by time. Even the killed baby of Betty had been forgotten, although it plays such a central role. Or Eli Carson. He had become a familiar face without a name (an old neighbor of mine? A far relative?). Of course there is an immense shift of judgment. At the time, you simply took the characters at face value, for granted. An adolescent (I don't know about my parents) can not yet see the psychological aspects in their behavior. For instance, on second acquaintance the Rod-Allison romance looks ridiculous ("Oh Allison..." and "I want to teach you everything I know. If you let me"). And the deep tragedy of Rod killing his child. The immature characters of Norm and Judy. Also I had not seen the probable war traumas of George and Elliot. The beloved doctor Rossi is actually quite arrogant and aggressive, and not at all so different from George. Nonetheliess, at the time he was extremely popular with the Dutch housewives. Etcetera etcetera. If you try to classify this piece of history, the label doctors' saga bubbles up. We watch the mental deviations of the characters from the perspective of the rational analyst (usually a physician or sometimes a veterinary; in this series it could be Swain). In Peyton Place, these deviations are generally ugly, which makes this series a rather depressing spectacle. If you are fond of such stories, consider seeing the Dutch film "Dorp aan de rivier". It contains an impressive scene, where the doctor crosses a river by jumping on the moving ice-floes, in order to do a delivery,
Review of Peyton Place
